Boom
by pikapikatchu
Summary: Greg's still dealing with the emotional damages his experience a few weeks ago caused and Nick still wants to find out what's bothering his friend when a bomber aiming at the police rocks the CSIs world.
1. Chapter 1

This story follows up on my other two stories. Please read the other two before you start reading this one or else you might be a little confused what's going on :) thanks!

You can find it at my profile or here: 

first story: _"A day at the video rental store"_

**.net/s/6502149/1/A_day_at_the_video_rental_store **

second story:_ "An eye for an eye"_

**.net/s/6506034/1/An_Eye_For_An_Eye **

(just put the fanfiction-url in front of the urls above and you're good to go. I can't publish it as a real link, I'm sorry!)

* * *

Nick was reading the newspaper while Ray and Catherine were discussing a case they were working on when Sara stormed into the break room.

"Nick, turn on the TV," she demanded in a hectic voice.

"Where's the fire, Sara?" Nick said, turning on the TV. The news was on.

"_The explosion caused eleven casualties. It's yet unknown if the main target was in fact the police or if it was a coincidence that most victims are police officers. It is not confirmed whether or not it was a terrorist attack."_

They all just sat there and stared at the TV screen in disbelief.

"Nine of the eleven victims are police officers..." Sara said, „The other two civilians."

"Got anyone we know hurt?" Nick said with a concerned look.

"I'm not sure... it happened at the crime scene our lab was working at..."

Their faces turned deathly pale. There was only one crime scene that had that many officers working on. A gang-related shootout. Similar to a case they had a few years ago, where Brass accidentally shot a police officer, the suspects opened fire while driving a car and drove several miles until they finally were stopped by another car getting in their way. They had a car crash, one of the shooters died, the driver of the other vehicle was taken to the hospital and was seriously injured. The other shooters and the people they shot at were nowhere to be found. Because it was such a big crime scene there were many police officers and CSIs working the case.

"You assigned me to that case, Catherine," Nick said, not believing how much luck he had. „If I had pulled a double I would've been there when it happened..."

"I'm glad you didn't..." Catherine said, only to remember who covered for Nick. Nick was supposed to pull a double but since his parents came to visit him surprisingly he asked to go home and spend time with them. "Wait..." Catherine said, giving them a look that scared the three CSIs.

"What is it?" Ray asked.

Catherine looked at her watch. „I asked Greg to cover for Nick... He was supposed to collect the cartridge cases and bullets and bring them back to the lab... Did you guys see him?" She couldn't help but tear up.

"I'll give him a call," Sara said, trying to calm down Catherine. "It's a big crime scene, he might've been miles away from the explosion..." She dialed his number and waited for him to answer his cell. Usually he would pick up pretty quickly, but this time it rang several times, making them all nervous.

"Hi Sara..." Finally came through the phone.

"Thank God, Greg! Are you okay?"

"I am... But it's a mess out here."

Sara could hear the ambulance's sirens blaring. "Is there something we can do at the moment?"

"Well..." he sighed. "There's going to be a LOT of work to do... Five detonations and they still don't know it's save out here. You guys should wait for the bomb squad to give their okay, then you could come over and help processing the scene..."

"Greg, not so quick." Sara didn't understand all he said, as he was always babbling and talking way too quick when he was in distress. "Five detonations? On the news they said there was only one?"

"Believe me, it was fi..." He was interrupted by a loud bang. Silence on his line.

"Greg? Greg!" Sara cried in despair. The other CSIs just sat there, staring at her.

"Oh God..." Catherine said, trying to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks.


	2. Chapter 2

After half a minute silence Sara could hear a rattle on the phone.

„I'm fine." Greg finally said.

Sara closed her eyes, fighting back the tears. „What happened, Greg?"

„Another explosion... But I'm fine, no one got hurt."

„Okay... I want you to come back to the lab now. Let the bomb squad handle it, we need you to be safe."

„Alright. Though I'm not sure how to get there... My Denali looks pretty bad."

Sara laughed. „Don't worry about your car, ask one of the police officers to give you a ride."

„Right..." Greg said, hanging up.

* * *

Almost everyone working in the lab was now standing or sitting in the break room, staring at the tv. Nothing they didn't already know was said on the News, but still they couldn't help but watch it.

When Greg entered, all of them turned to look at him.

„Hey..." He said with a faint smile on his face. The bruises from when he was taken hostage had faded a few weeks ago and his left hand wasn't in bandages anymore. The superficial wounds all healed up. Nobody but Greg knew if the emotional damages this event caused, did, too. But now he had a cut above his right eye and scratches on his face and his shirt was all dirty.

Without saying a word, Catherine walked up to him and hugged him. She couldn't help but cry. „I'm so glad you're okay" she whispered.

Sara, Nick and Ray went over to him and gently touched his arm and back, telling him the same Catherine just did.

Greg was showing a bit of discomfort on his face, but Nick figured he was just embarrassed because of all the attention he was getting. Greg usually didn't mind being the center of attention when it was because of something funny he did, but he didn't want to be when it was because he just cheated death once again.

„Did you get this cut checked out by one of the paramedics?" Nick asked, noticing that it didn't look like someone had patched him up.

„Uhm... no... they were busy" Greg said, looking at Nick „But it's fine, it doesn't even hurt."

„It looks quite deep..." Ray said, looking at the cut. „You might need some stitches. Come on, I'll drive you to the hospital."

„I can't just leave now. We have work to do!"

Catherine sighed. „Fine. Ray, take Greg down to Doc Robbins, he has the equipment, you have the skills." As she brushed away the tears, she smiled at them.

„Come on, it'll only take a minute" Ray said, walking Greg down the hallway.

* * *

Ray was examining the cut on Greg's forehead. „Two stitches should be enough." He took a syringe, injecting a lokal anesthesia. „So how did this happen?"

Greg sighed. „I was miles away from the first explosion. I just heard it and saw smoke coming up. All the officers around me were running to it, so I did, too."

As Ray started to stitch him up, Greg continued. „It's a good thing I don't work out" He chuckled. „Because the officers who were running real fast were hit really hard by the second explosion..." He frowned.

Ray stopped for a second and just looked at him.

Greg recollected himself and went on. „I felt the heat of the explosion but wasn't close enough to get hit by it. But there was a lot of stuff flying around... Glass, Stones... Something must've hit me, I'm not sure what it was."

„Well..." Ray said. „Whatever it was, we got a piece of it" He showed Greg the tweezers he used to pull it out of Greg's wound.

„Oh that's good. I usually bag the evidence, but carrying it around in my skull isn't that bad either, I guess." Greg joked.

It was an inappropriate joke but Ray couldn't help but laugh. As he finished Greg's wound up with a patch, he touched Greg's shoulder, smiling at him and telling him again how glad he was that Greg was okay.

Greg forced a smile, still feeling uncomfortable with any man being physically close to him. But he didn't feel the need to bolt whenever it happened anymore.

„Thanks, Ray." He said, this time with a genuine smile on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

Sara was taking pictures of the scene. It looked like a war zone. She couldn't believe she was standing in the middle of it.

„You found anything yet?" Nick came up to her.

„No..." She said, picking up something that looked like somebody's glasses. „But I don't think we'll find all that much. Bomb squad said we're safe, though."

„At least SOME good news..." Nick replied.

As they were working their way from where the first explosion went off to the last one, Nick tried to talk to Sara about Greg. „Hey, have you been talking to Greg about what happened the last weeks?"

Sara knew Nick well enough to know there was something specific he wanted to ask her about. „If you want to know about what's going on inside him you'll have to ask him" She said, not keeping her eyes off the streets.

Nick looked at her. He wondered why he didn't see that one coming. „I know, it's just... he won't talk to me."

Sara could hear the concern in her friends voice. „It's not easy to talk about stuff like this."

„Yeah but it has been for him. Or maybe not. But he did, anyway."

„I don't think it has anything to do with you, Nick, he's just not the same he was a few years ago." She said, taking some pictures.

This hit Nick real hard. He knew his friend had changed over the years, but he always thought Greg being able to talk about his feelings was one of the things that defined him. And their friendship.

When Sara saw the look on Nick's face, she quickly responded „But who is, right?" trying to comfort him.

„It's just... I KNOW there is something... Something that's really taking a toll on him and I..." When he noticed he sounded almost as if he was angry with Greg, he stopped.

Sara looked at him „You what?"

„I feel like I'm letting him down..." He said with a very vulnerable, soft voice.

It pained Sara to know what Nick was so desperate to find out, but not being able to tell him. „You know... When I was lying under that car in the desert..." She looked up from her camera „There was a lot I was thinking about. Good things and bad things... I'm sure you know what thoughts I'm talking about... And I never told Grissom about all of it." She smiled, taking some pictures again. „There's just some things we don't feel comfortable talking about with the people we care about for several reasons. Because we want to protect them, or because we don't want them to see us different when they find out, maybe even because we don't want them pitying us. But that doesn't mean we don't trust them or won't talk to them about our feelings ever again. It just means we don't want them to know about some of our darkest secrets..." She picked up a plastic bottle, almost melted out of recognition.

„...Did he tell you?" Nick asked curious.

„Nick..." She stood up „Give it a rest. Yes, he told me, but there's a reason he can't tell anybody else."

„I hope you realize what you just did." He said, looking at her with a slightly pissed face.

„What?"

„I'll think about what Greg could only tell you, all day long now. Thanks a lot, Sara!" He said, walking away.

As Sara watched Nick walk away, she couldn't keep the corner of her mouth from going up.

* * *

„Hey Greg" Catherine said, walking into the A/V room. Greg was sitting there, watching tapes that recorded the first detonation. „You found something yet?"

„Nothing useful. We got the car crash on tape but nothing that could help us find out who built these bombs. It doesn't even show someone placing it there..." Still looking at the screen, he sounded exhausted and irritated.

„You know you could just take the night off, right?" She said, touching his shoulder so that he would look at her.

„Why should I? We need all the brains we got to figure this one out. We can get some sleep when we solved this." He said, glancing at her.

„Didn't you know that when you've got at least two stitches you are allowed to take the night off, even if we need every man we can get?" She smiled at him, smoothly brushing over his injuries.

„Catherine, please." He said, gently pulling her hand away from his face. „I'll get some rest later, but for now I want to work on this case."

She sighed. „I'm not sure I'm proud or annoyed right now" She smiled, walking out of the room.

* * *

Hours passed since the first explosion and the CSIs still didn't have a lead on the case. They were all sitting in the break room, trying to recharge to pass the next few hours. They knew they still had a lot work to do and couldn't take a real break, so they decided to stop for 10 minutes to try to relax a bit.

Nick was rubbing his eyes. „It just seems so random at the moment. There's nothing that indicates that they aimed at the police officers. Or the crime scene."

„But we've got nothing to prove they didn't." Ray added.

Greg was asleep, with his head being buried in his arms he had resting on the table.

The other CSIs were talking about the case for about 10 minutes when they decided to get back to work.

„Come on Greg, let's go to the hospital asking the survivors what they remember..." Nick said, making his way to the door.

When Greg didn't react, they all stopped, staring at him.

„...Greg, wake up." Nick said.

They all looked at each other. For a second their hearts seemed to have stopped beating. Was Greg alright? Or did the explosions affect his health more than they thought it did?


	4. Chapter 4

Ray slowly walked up to their young colleague who looked like he was sleeping, but they weren't sure. Ray suspected he might have a concussion that caused him to pass out.

„Greg?" Ray softly said, reaching for Greg's neck to check for a pulse. The other CSIs just stood there, holding in their breaths.

When Ray finally reached Greg, he awoke with a start, waving his hands around, almost hitting Ray.

Greg looked around, scared stiff, slowly understanding what just happened. „Ray, you scared the hell out of me..."

The other CSIs laughed humorlessly „You scared us, too, Greg."

* * *

On their way to the hospital, Nick decided to ask Greg about what just happened. „I didn't know you were scared so easily."

„Hm?" Greg was looking out of the window.

„You know, I woke you up a dozen times and you never reacted like this..." Nick said without looking at Greg, he had to concentrate on the traffic. It was already 6.30a.m. And a lot of people were on their way to work right now.

„So?" Greg said, looking at Nick, who could almost feel Greg's eyes piercing him.

„Nothing, I mean I understand that."

„Do you have a point or are you just rambling right now?" Greg was getting annoyed by his colleague, obvious enough for Nick to notice.

This unexpected reaction caused Nick to look at Greg for a few seconds. „I..." Not knowing what to reply, he just looked back at the traffic.

Greg still had his eyes on Nick, but his frown quickly changed to a guilty look. „I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out on you like that... It's just... It's been a rough day, and..."

Nick stopped him there „What do you mean by day? You've been like that the last two months."

Indeed it's been almost two months since the hostage situation. Greg just realized how long it's been since it still felt like it happened yesterday.

„I don't want this to hurt our friendship, Greg." Nick said, giving Greg a sad look.

Greg gulped. „As far as I'm concerned, it didn't affect our friendship."

„Really? Then why do I feel like you don't trust me anymore?" He said, without looking at Greg.

Greg looked down to his feet. „I'm sorry, I don't want to give off that vibe..."

„But you're not denying that you don't trust me anymore?" Nick asked with a tone in his voice that led Greg to believe he already knew the answer.

Greg just sat there, staring at Nick.

Nick could feel that Greg wanted to apologize. „It's okay... I guess... But you always said that trust is important in a friendship... Where do we stand when you can't trust me anymore?"

Nick pulled up the car in the hospital garage. „Let's go." he said to Greg without looking at him, walking a few steps ahead of him. He felt that if he looked at him now, he'd see the distrust in Greg's eyes, something he couldn't deal with right now.

* * *

At the hospital they met Brass, who spent the last few hours talking to the officers who were wounded in the explosion but survived.

Brass looked weary. He knew all of the cops who died, he was even friends with some of them.

„Hey Jim" Nick said in a softly manner „I didn't expect you here. Since you're... Personally involved with this case."

„We all are, Nicky" He said with a big frown on his face. „Whoever did this wanted some police officers dead, I'm sure. That means they want us dead."

The three men looked at each other for a second, then Brass pointed to a hospital room. „Officer Stephens here lost a hand... He was picking up the first bomb when it exploded."

„What do you mean, picked it up?" Greg asked confused. „I was there, there's no way he could survive being that close to the bomb, it was huge."

„Maybe he's confused about it being the first one?" Nick joined. „The following explosions were not that big, I guess you could survive being close to them.

„No, he said he didn't hear or see an explosion before that one. He meant the first one." Brass explained.

„And you're sure the first one was the big one?" Nick turned to Greg.

„Of course I'm sure. I mean, I watched it a dozen times on tape. And I didn't see Officer Stevens or anyone else near the point of detonation." Greg paused. „Come to think of it... There wasn't anyone near the enough at the other explosions to lose a hand from picking it up, they came out of nowhere."

„What are you trying to say, Greg? That he lied? Why would he?" Brass asked confused.

„I don't know... But his story doesn't add up."

* * *

Catherine was in the autopsy room, waiting for Doc Robbins. He called her and asked her to meet him down here, but when she went in he wasn't there.

„Catherine" David came, rolling in another victim of the explosions „What can I do for you?"

„Actually I'm waiting for Al. Who's this?" Catherine pointed at the body.

„Victim number 12... He died at the hospital." He said with a pitiful look on his face.

Catherine just nodded, not saying a word, returning the pitiful look, when Doc Robbins walked in „David, could you give us a minute?"

„...Sure" As David walked out the door, silently closing the door, Doc Robbins turned to Catherine.

„I wanted you to see this" He turned to one of the dead bodies in the room. „Meet John Doe. Mr. Doe was in the explosion."

„I figured..." Catherine said, looking at the burned body.

„But Mr. Doe didn't die in that explosion..." He continued.

„Did he also die in the hospital?"

„No. Johnny here died approximately 12 hours before the first explosion."

„12 hours earlier? Where did they find him?" She looked at some files „They found him sitting in a car. The third explosion came from his car. Who blows up a dead's dude car?"

„Maybe the same person that stabbed him." Doc Robbins suggested.

„He was stabbed?" Catherine said, looking at the stabbing wound Doc Robbins was pointing at.


	5. Chapter 5

Nick was taking another timeout in the break room. Working on the case for hours without even having the time to eat was hard on him, especially with what just happened between him and Greg.

Greg didn't trust him anymore. And worst part was, Nick had no idea why. Was it because Nick waited outside the car and let Greg go in that video rental store alone? Was it because Greg went through living hell that day and he can't cope with it differently?

He had no idea. He was just sure he wouldn't ask Greg about it anymore, it wouldn't lead to him getting closer to finding out what's wrong with him, anyway.

„Hey" Greg stood in the doorway with a faint smile on his face.

„...Hi" Nick said detached.

Greg walked over to the table, seating himself, leaving two chairs between him and Nick.

„Gotta get back to work..." Nick said, getting himself ready to stand up.

„Wait..." Greg reached over to Nick's hand „I wanted to talk to you."

Nick was surprised. Greg always seemed to make sure to sit next to Sara or Catherine, but avoided sitting next to Nick. He also avoided sitting next to Ray, but Nick didn't notice it. And now he touched his hand. It didn't use to be something special, but Nick felt like it was this time „Okay..." He said, sitting down again.

Greg released a deep sigh „It's not that I don't trust YOU, Nick..." He didn't look up to Nick, just stared at his hands he had resting at the table for a while. „I think that I'm just... scared" as Greg looked up to Nick, Nick could see all the pain in Greg's eyes he had been carrying around the last two months.

Nick was devastated. He expected Greg to explain that he actually did trust him and just was feeling bad because of what he went through, but instead he received this slap to his face. „You're... scared? Of me? Why?"

Greg could hear how much this hurt Nick, but Nick wanted to know, he kept thinking to himself. He didn't want to tell Nick the truth because he knew it would hurt him, but Nick demanded to hear it and now he had to deal with it. „It's difficult... I don't understand it myself but..." again he released a very deep sigh „in that video store, one of them forced himself on me..." He paused for over half a minute and then continued. „He kissed me and implied that he'd rape me once he..." Greg gulped „...once he got the chance." The whole time Greg just looked down to his hands and slowly looked up once he finished his sentence, to find Nick fighting back tears.

„And now you think that... I would do something like that to you?" Nick had a really hard time saying this.

„No! God, Nick, no!" Greg shook his head hastily. „I know you would NEVER do something like that to anybody!" Greg needed Nick to believe him that.

„But you avoid me. You avoid physical contact with me. I don't get it. What are you afraid of?"

„I don't get it, either..." Greg said with a fainted smile on his face, looking up to Nick. „But I can't change it. I don't feel comfortable with any man coming close to me at the moment... I relive what happened in that store everytime someone gets close... And I hate myself for giving you the feeling I don't trust you! But I just can't change it right now. And I need you to be patient about it."

„So you do trust me?" Nick sobbed. He couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

„What, you think I would tell someone I don't trust something like this?" Greg faked a smile, trying to lighten up the mood.

„Oh Greg... I'm so sorry you have to go through this..." Nick stood up, ready to go over to Greg and give him a hug.

„Don't..." Greg jumped off his chair, smiling nervously.

„Right..." Nick sobbed „I'm Sorry..."

* * *

„Hey Nick!" Sara yelled out of the garage. She was working on the John Doe's car.

„Yeah?" He said, smiling at Sara.

„Wow, what happened?" She said, thinking for a second. „Wait, Greg told you?" She said surprised.

„Mhm." He said content. He seemed happy. Not because of what happened to Greg, of course, but because he confided in him.

Sara gave him a weird look. She really didn't think Greg would tell him but she felt kind of proud he did. To her, Greg proved to be quite mature and brave. „So... I was just trying to find anything that could tell us who our John Doe is, right? It didn't look like I would find anything useful because the car burned out. But then I found this." She handed it over to Nick.

„A credit card." Nick looked at it. „It's melted, but I think we can find out a few of the numbers and part of the name. It will be easy to find out who he is. Good work." Without looking back at her, he left.

* * *

„Yes, that's my husband..." A blond woman said, looking at some photos. She appeared to be in her late 20ies.

„Okay..." Brass put aside the photos. „When was the last time you saw him?"

„Yesterday at... I think 9, maybe 10 p.m. He wanted to go out with some friends, drink a beer, have some fun..." She sobbed „We have a two year old daughter... Once a month one of us goes out with some friends and the other one stays at home with her. Last night was his turn..."

„And when did you realize he didn't come home?"

„When I woke up this morning, he wasn't there... I called his best friend, Jeff, and asked where my husband was... He said they said good-bye at 3 a.m. And that my husband walked home..."

„Okay... His friend, Jeff, what's his last name?" Brass asked, picking up a pen.

„Stevens. His name is Jeff Stevens. He works with my husband."

* * *

Brass walked into Catherine's office. She was studying autopsy reports of all the bodies.

„Catherine... I just talked to Brian Crawford's wife. He's the burned body we found in the car."

„Right." Catherine picked up his autopsy report.

„This case just turned a whole lot weirder..." He pulled out a photo of the dead man „Meet Officer Brian Crawford!"

„He's a Police Officer?" Catherine asked in surprise.

„And that's not all there is! His best buddy is Officer Jeff Stevens..."

„Stevens... Wait, I read the name somewhere..." as Catherine looked through the files, Brass continued.

„Jeff Stevens is the officer who lost a hand. When he was picking up the bomb, it exploded. At least that's his story. Greg's doubting he's telling the truth, he didn't see Stevens near the explosions on tape."

„Alright..." Catherine put her glasses down „He lied to us and he knows our victim?"

„Not only did he know him, he was also the last one to see him alive..." Brass said.

„How convenient he turned up dead at the crime scene Stevens was assigned to." Catherine raised an eyebrow.

„Well... We tried to identify the bodies, so Ray went through the assignment sheets. Stevens' name doesn't pop up."

„So what was he doing out there?" Catherine asked Brass.

„I'll find out..." He went out of her office.


	6. Chapter 6

Greg met Brass back at the hospital. Brass figured it was best if Greg was with him when he interrogated Stevens, since he was there when the bombs exploded. Plus, he saw the tapes, he knows exactly what happened.

„Hey Jeff." Brass said, sitting down next to his bed.

„Captain Brass...You're back?" Officer Stevens was just waking up.

„This is CSI Sanders, he was at the crime scene when the bombs went off, too." As Brass introduced him, Greg nodded to Stevens.

„Can you tell me what happened?" Greg asked, looking at Stevens' hand.

„I already told you, Detective. Why do I have to go through this again?" He looked confused „I'm really tired..."

„This won't take long. We found Brian Crawfords dead body at the crime scene..." Brass said, looking into his eyes. He wanted to see his reaction, trying to figure out if he was honestly surprised or just acted it.

He looked down „...Does Barbara know?"

„Yes, his wife was informed." Brass answered.

„Oh God... She was worried when he didn't come home... Me, too, but I thought he..." He stopped himself.

„You thought what?" Greg asked curious.

„Well... I suspected he had an affair... There were lots of hints, but I never asked him about it."

„And you didn't notice his car at the scene?" Greg was writing down Stevens' answers.

„His car was at the scene? No..." He sobbed „I didn't see it."

Greg and Brass both looked at each other. His reaction seemed appropriate and real, but they knew there was something fishy about him.

„Why exactly were you at the crime scene, anyway?" Brass asked confidently.

Stevens just looked at Brass and Greg in surprise. „Because I was assigned to it."

„Right..." Brass' jaw clenched.

„We have the assignment papers here..." Greg handed it to Stevens „And your name's not on it."

He was obviously getting nervous. If he had the strength to get out of his bed and run away, he would.

„I... I wish I could tell you... But ever since the explosion I'm missing some of my memories..." Stevens looked at Greg, almost as if he was trying to see if he was buying that lie.

„How come you didn't mention that before? To you doctors or to me when I was talking to you earlier? You seemed to be remembering a lot." Brass told him, knowing he lied.

Stevens teared up. „I want a lawyer."

* * *

Sara was at the lobby, filling out some papers. She was as exhausted as the others, but tried to keep it together.

„Excuse me, I want to see Jim Brass..." Brian Crawford's wife said softly to Judy, the desk clerk.

„Mrs. Crawford... I'm Sara Silde, I work with Captain Brass on your husband's case." Sara said, shaking her hand. „He is out right now, but maybe I can help you?"

Mrs. Crawford looked like she was crying for the last few hours. „Well I... I just wanted to know if they already figured out what happened... Captain Brass said he'd give me a call, but it's been a few hours ever since..."

Sara knew that, as a police officer's wife, she probably knew these things take a while. But she probably needed someone to talk to. „We have a lead, but it's too early to tell if we're right, you know... How have you been holding up?" She asked, placing her hand gently on the woman's arm.

„I'll be fine... I just worry about our daughter... How can I tell her she'll grow up without her father?" She started to cry again.

„I'm so sorry, Mrs. Crawford..." Sara said, trying to comfort her, when Brass and Greg went in.

„Barbara" Brass said „Do you need something?"

She dried her eyes „I came here to find out if you already found who did this to my husband..."

Brass gave Sara a look. „Why don't we go into my office..." He walked her out.

Greg and Sara looked after them. „We got him. He confessed." Greg said, without looking at Sara.

„Really? Did he built the bombs, too?" Sara said surprised.

„Well..." Greg gave her a disappointing look „He confessed to two bombs, but swears he didn't build the other four."

„Why would he confess to only two?" Sara was confused.

„Well he either didn't build the other four or he has a reason to lie. But he confesses to bomb number 2 and number 6. No one died because of the bombs he claimed he built, maybe he doesn't want to be held responsible for all his victims?"

„Maybe... We need to find proof he built all those bombs. Let's see if Catherine and Ray found anything useful yet."

* * *

Catherine and Ray were processing the bomb pieces they found at the crime scene. They had three piles, a small one and two bigger ones.

„Hey guys." Catherine said to Sara and Greg entering. „Take a look at that."

The two leaned over the two piles, looking at what Catherine wanted to show them.

„We originally wanted to make two piles. One with pieces that probably belonged to the bombs, and one that didn't." Ray explained to them.

„But we noticed that there seemed to be two different types of bombs." Catherine went on.

„Two types? That would confirm Stevens' story. He claims he only built two bombs, not the other four." Greg said, picking up one of the pieces from the small pile.

„The small pile has all the stuff you need to build a bomb with the help of the Internet. The bombs were dangerous, but not as big as the first one." As Catherine went on to explain their findings, she picked up some burnt wires.

„But the other bombs looked like someone who really knew what he was doing built them."

„So it was all a coincidence. It could've been two separate crime scenes, but instead Stevens placed the body and the bombs at our crime scene. He killed his friend hours before the shooting, he probably dumped the body before he knew this was going to be a crime scene." Ray figured.

„Talk about bad luck. But why two bombs? One would've been enough to get rid of the traces on the body." Sara replied.

„He probably thought that, with two bombs, we would figure the dead body was collateral damage." Ray said.

„Okay, Greg and Sara, try to find the hard evidences linking Stevens to the two bombs." Catherine said „We have a confession, but we still need the evidence to support our theory. Stevens wouldn't be the first one to take his confession back. Ray, take Nick and find everything you can to find out who is responsible for the other four bombs." Catherine walked out the room.

* * *

„I found NOTHING that could lead us to whoever did this" Nick said sighing.

„Yeah me neither..." Ray said, putting one of the pieces back on the pile. „I'm not sure we'll ever find something useful in this."

„And the video tapes we have don't show anything useful, either. Archie thinks they have been tampered with. They only show the explosions, not what happened before..." Nick said, looking at Ray. „This son of a bitch wanted us to have the bombs recorded for some reason..."

„We need to find another way to find us a suspect. Who could want to blow up a crime scene and hurt a dozen cops?" Ray asked, looking at the piles.

Nick laughed humorlessly „Pretty much every perp we ever arrested... And the ones we didn't catch, right?"

„Right..." Ray said. They've been working for two hours on these piles now, they needed a break.

„So, Greg finally confided in you... I'm glad he did." He looked up to Nick from the piles.

„What? Greg told you?" Nick asked in surprise „I don't believe it! Why would he go around telling that anybody but me..." Ray stopped him.

„No, Nick, he didn't tell me anything."

„...But how..." Nick was very confused right now.

„Nick, I used to get paid for noticing stuff like that" He smiled at him „Actually I still am. I don't know what exactly is going on with Greg, though I can take a wild guess since I noticed how he acted around us two and Brass. I also noticed you ignoring him today. And then your mood changed after you talked to him, so I figured he told you. Right?"

The surprised look on Nicks face slowly changed into a faint smile as he leaned back. „Good job, Professor. Maybe you could also tell me how we can help him go through this?"

„I'm afraid I can't. He's still seeing the department shrink, he'll get over this. The best is to give him some time and some space. Let him know you're there for him, try to help him keep his mind off it, you know?" Ray smiled at Nick, patting him on the shoulder. „He spends enough time talking and thinking about it in therapy and when he's alone, when he's with his friends he should try to have fun."

„I guess you're right..." Nick said with a sad smile on his face. „It just hurts me to think about it whenever I see him. He always seems so sad... Even when he's smiling."

„I know... But..." When Ray wanted to go on, Greg stormed in.

„Hey guys. There's been another explosion... Two officers got injured, no fatalities. And we got this!" He held up a DVD.

* * *

In the A/V lab, Archie played the DVD. It showed several pictures of officers and CSIs at the crime scene, everyone from night shift was on at least one picture, accompanied by classic music and a voice saying „Be prepared, this was only the beginning. Whenever you have to report to a crime scene you'll have to ask yourselves „Will this be my last crime scene?". At least you should ask yourselves that, because now... The game is on." The voice stopped talking, but the pictures and the classic music went on.

Catherine, Nick, Greg, Sara and Ray were just standing there with shocked faces. Now it was obvious. Someone was trying to kill as many cops as possible.

„We need to talk to this kid whose brother built bombs directed at the police" Sara gulped „He might be involved with this."

„I'll send Brass to it." Catherine replied, quickly leaving the room.

The other five CSIs were still sitting there in silent.

„I can't believe this is happening." Sara said, breaking up the silence. The others just looked at each other, not knowing what to say.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi!

The next story is called _"The Game Is On"_. You can find it on my profile page, but to make it easier for you to keep track here's a link to the story.

**.net/s/6773108/1/The_Game_Is_On** (just put the fanfiction-url in front of it, I can't publish it that way, I'm sorry!)

If you'd rather want just one long story, please let me know. I can publish one big story if that's what you guys want!

**THANK YOU** for reading and hopefully loving my story. Big Love,

pikapikatchu


End file.
